Duke Basketball


Duke Basketball
Stimulated on by its energetic house audience, BYU offered checking out Fight it out all it could manage.

The fresh Cougars dropped just shorter of pulling off an distressed of the eighth-ranked Glowing blue Challenges.

Chelsea Grey obtained 13 of her 15 items in the second 50 % and included a career-high six takes to guide Fight it out to a 61-55 win over BYU on Exclusive night time.

"We had some unforced turnovers at vital periods," BYU instructor Mark Judkins said. "But we had a lot of youngsters out there. We're going to discover from farmville as a group. Hopefully we can just get better."

The Cougars outrebounded the Glowing blue Challenges 41-36 and required 17 turnovers. Unfortunately they had 22 turnovers of their own.

Gray created several large performs to help the Glowing blue Challenges (1-0) keep one phase before Cougars (0-1) down the reach. She obtained a couple of holders, served on another and created 3-of-4 no cost includes during one more 4 1/2 mins of the sport.

"That's what it's going to be like every time on the route," said Grey.

Haley Peters included 12 items and Chloe Water wells damaged in 10 for Fight it out, who will experience Auburn in the crew's house operator next Exclusive.

Duke used extreme protecting demand to avoid with a success. The Glowing blue Challenges required the soccer tennis ball beginning and often to set up many holders in move. As a group, Fight it out obtained a complete of 24 items off the BYU turnovers.

"We like to attack," Duke coach Joanie McCallie said. "We like to be aggressive. Broken plays are a lot of fun."

It offset a strong effort senior point guard Haley Steed produced for the Cougars. Steed finished with 12 points and 15 rebounds, although she also had 10 turnovers. Kim Parker added 14 points and six rebounds for BYU.

"I'm proud of my team," Judkins said. "Duke is a very well coached, experienced, athletic team. I thought this year's team was better than last year's team. They're athletic in every position and deep. My team didn't quit. We've really learned as a team what our future is. If we play with that energy and intensity we can beat a lot of people."

The Cougars had 2,553 fans, their biggest crowd since they hosted UConn in 2008.

The Blue Devils took advantage of poor shooting and turnovers by BYU to break off extended runs at two different points in the first half. Each time, the Cougars clawed their way back to keep Duke from turning it into a blowout.

After BYU took a 7-5 lead on a jumper from Dani Peterson, Wells hit a 3-pointer and ignited an 11-0 run to put Duke ahead 16-7. BYU pulled to within four after Stephanie Vermunt and Parker scored baskets on consecutive possessions.

The Blue Devils responded with a 7-0 run – capped by a fastbreak layup from Wells after she swiped the ball from Parker – to make it 23-12 in favor of Duke. Once again, BYU had an answer. Freshman guard Xojian Harry came off the bench and scored eight straight points – including back-to-back 3-pointers – to pull the Cougars to within three at 23-20.

It was enough to keep BYU within striking distance of the Blue Devils. The Cougars continued to chip away at the lead and charged ahead of Duke at last when Steed buried a 3-pointer to put BYU up 32-29 with 15:43 left in the second half.

Duke never got rattled in those moments when they had plenty of reasons to question if an upset was truly brewing.

"Each time we had a break, we huddled and - in the huddle - tried to keep our composure," Gray said.

It worked. The Blue Devils finally strung together a run that BYU could not answer when they ran off eight straight points - punctuated by a 3-pointer from Peters - to take a 42-36 lead with 8:05 remaining.

Just like in the first half, the Cougars tried to rally from the deficit. BYU's efforts fell short because Gray came up with one big play after another.

After BYU twice pulled to within three points, the sophomore guard produced baskets on the other end to give Duke some extra breathing room. Gray fed the ball to Peters for a driving layup and made three free throws in the final minute to prevent any last second upset from materializing.

One mark in the win column feels nice to start off the season. McCallie knows it will take an improved effort in the weeks ahead to keep the momentum going.

"We're definitely a work in progress," McCallie said.

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